Stephen A.: Luka Doncic MESSED UP Kyrie Irving’s game last night! 🗣️ | First Take

best the Celtics hold off the Mavericks one win away from their 18th NBA title Jason Tatum scored 31 Jaylen Brown at 30 and the Celtics held up a furious Dallas rally to win 10699 and go Up 3 in the NBA Finals the Mavs luuka donic fouled at with 412 remaining here's perk with a strong take about Luca's performance Luca off the game he drained his team emotionally even J kid he's and it started from the tip the complaining every damn possession down the falling on the floor right not getting back in transition not making a second effort the bull fouls yet that was not a charge why even put yourself in that position he tapped out and he left his team hanging by far the worst performance I've seen for Luca in the playoffs lack of energy lack of leadership emotions wasn't there he wet the bed at the crib strong take right there he wor the bed at the crib uh Brian wior back here with us and CJ McCollum here in studio CJ I'll start with you what do you make of what perk had to say was he Fair there I think a lot of what he said was true I think the delivery was a little harsh in terms of saying it was the worst career playoff game uh Luca has ever played in but I think a lot a lot of validity is there in terms of the effort not seeming to be there consistently uh defensively having some lapses where I think the injury the workload him being the number one option for so long facing double teams I think all those things kind of factored into his lack of focus or lack of energy he did have a couple fouls that he shouldn't have gotten you know trying to trying to swipe at the ball after a missed shot a foul in Payton Pritchard at you know 40 feet away from the basket those are the fouls that you can't have I don't I don't mind the the fifth foul on him guarding Jaylen Brown I don't mind the foul um that he got on J Brown that was number six those shouldn't have been fouls five and six those should have been fouls 2 3 3 4 but I think that the moral of the story is Luca is so great we expect more from him on the defensive end in terms of his effort he's not going to just get stops all the time this is a hard leak to get stops in but the effort has to be there you have to force tough to you got to deep dig down and and really show that you care on both sides of the ball and I think historically he's been so great offensively that none of these lapses have mattered now it's at the at the highest stage so it's more magnified Wendy well I'm not gonna deny I'm not gonna oh I'm sorry go ahead go ahead go ahead Wendy go ahead Wendy no no no go ahead go ahead Stephenie I'm not going to deny that perk was sounded a bit harsh you know what I'm saying I mean I know there wasn't FCC air wve so there was no crime committed but you know he he his delivery could be a touch softer a big perk he knows that but here's the deal that that was frustration uh seeping out of him and the frustration was justified uh Luca donic in the fourth quarter these game finals these three game finals appearances is shot 20% from the field three of 15 he's averaged less than three points in the fourth quarter and he has more turnovers and and fouls than he does field goals that's inexcusable and then to be going off at the bench at the coaches screaming and cussing at them because you want them to challenge something they shouldn't even have challenged uh knowing that you put yourself in that position because on at least two or three occasions you committed unnecessary fouls that were highly unproductive way away from the basket had no business doing those things he put himself in that position and I think for me CJ and and Wendy and I said this earlier CJ before you came on I don't think people are speaking enough about how Luca messed up the game for Kyrie we're looking at Kyrie having 35 we're looking at him and how prolific he was last night how he had his 20 points in the first in the first half how he hadn't hit any threes in the first two games of the series going 0 for eight from three-point range then he goes ballistic last night we're looking at that well CJ you know the game better than any of us and on top of it all you know what it's like to be on that basketball court particularly against somebody is Mercurial in The Sensational as Kyrie Irving can be and when you see him in his bag the way that he was you get the ball in his hands on too many occasions last night Kyrie Irving would get to his spots or get into the lane draw a foul Etc like late in the game when he got those three free throws right get him the damn ball Luca would literally take the ball he's slowing the pace he's dribbling excessively and then he's taking some contested shot that didn't end up going his way last night that's why he only had 27 points with the 27 shots those are times that you give the ball to Kyrie I saw him disrupting Kyrie's Rhythm I know Kyrie had a great game it could have been even greater at times if Luca had just recognized look this is not my night things ain't going the way they customarily go but it is for him just like it was going for me in the first couple of games it's going for him tonight let me get him the ball and move out this brother's way because he's doing some special things right now and I thought that Luca missed the boat on that just want to follow up I think a lot of credit yeah go ahead go ahead I was just going to say quickly L has played like this his entire career he's been he's been bald dominant he's had the ball for most of the possessions he's got a high usage rate and he's averag 35 10 and N in the regular season and they have won like that and they've had success like that I think for them they're going to graduate into continue to develop more into what the what you're seeing from Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown you see the biggest shot of the game I think was Jaylen Brown waving Jason tat him off to the corner Jason trusting Jaylen to have the ball at the top of the key being able to get the switch getting into his bag getting to the mid-range shot and and knocking it down they may they may not have been able to display that grow in years past it's taken them 6 seven8 years to get to this point to where there's trust there's continuity there's consistency Kyrie and Luke are only in not where I'm going CJ that's not where I'm going CJ you're you're absolutely right in your synopsis of of what CJ what Luca brings to the table how he plays that's not what I'm saying I'm saying last night was one of those instances if it's game one or two when everybody's struggling and he does the same thing he did last night outside of the complaining no problem the problem was is that even even though you were going at that rate last night and it wasn't necessarily your night you saw it was Kyrie's and when you see that in the second half knowing that he's in his bag and that he's flowing I'm saying at that moment you deviate a little bit from what you customarily do because you're seeing something special from him feed him move out the way is largely a result of what the Celtics have got in their game plan which is to relentlessly attack him defensively and it's harder I know that that happens in every game but the reason it's harder in this series is because Luca can't find a player to rest on he there's no weak Link in their offensive uh set that he can not have to worry about even last night Sam Hower they put Luca on Sam Hower because they thought at one point well that's the weak link we don't have to worry about him Sam Hower is hitting threes over the top of his head when he's standing still so part of what's going on here is that the Celtics are such a complete team with such a a tight game plan that they are blasting open the weaknesses in the Mavericks and they just like they blasted open the weaknesses in every team they played this year they are 79 and 20 when you include the regular season and the postseason they haven't lost in a month the last time they lost a game was on May 9th okay so part of what's going on here is we're reacting to the way that Luca is is adjusting to the pressure that's being put on him by the Celtics and that's why I think that moving forward and that starts in game four and and and even into the future Seasons what Luca needs to be doing today is getting past the anger or frustration he's got with the officials getting past the anger or frustration he's at with the shots he's getting and paying attention to what the Celtics are doing to get to him and beginning to change the way he plays so that when this happens again whether it's next year or two years from now when he gets here he's more prepared that's what I want this to be I want us to be on this show in two years that day after game three or game four the finals saying boy do you remember what Luca went through in 2024 and how that made a difference and to me that's the challenge and it starts for me in game four I want to see Luca come out in game four with a different type of mindset that he doesn't he knows that he can't afford against a team like the Celtics to screw off with the officials to to to lay back I don't expect it but I'd love to see it all right what what uh CJ thank you so much for being with us appreciate you one word answer here you think it's a sweep yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]